US Stamps
Different design concept used for Alex Trebek stamp issued on his birthday
By Jay Bigalke
On July 22, what would have been game show host Alex Trebek’s 84th birthday, he will be honored by the United States Postal Service with a commemorative forever stamp.
The design of the nondenominated (73¢) commemorative stamp is a bit unusual in that it doesn’t picture Trebek.
The Postal Service said, “The stamp artwork evokes the style of the game — in which a provided answer prompts contestants to respond with the corresponding question.”
The stamp will be issued at a ceremony July 22 at John Calley Park at Sony Pictures Entertainment Studios, 10371 Culver Blvd., Culver City, Calif. The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. To RSVP for the event, register online with the USPS.
Participants in the ceremony will include current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings; Jean Trebek, wife of Alex Trebek; and Michael Elston, secretary of the USPS board of governors.
The stamp design features this text on the game show’s iconic blue screen: “This naturalized U.S. Citizen hosted the quiz show ‘Jeopardy!’ for 37 seasons.” Below it, upside down in a handwritten font, is the answer: “Who is Alex Trebek?” The text “Forever USA” also appears upside down in the same font.
The hand lettering on the bottom of the stamp was created by Marti Davila.
The stamp pane, designed by USPS art director Antonio Alcala, features a Sony Pictures Entertainment photograph of Trebek on the left side. Above the four columns of five stamps are category headers that resemble the Jeopardy! board, reading “Entertainment,” “Game show hosts,” “Famous Alexes” and “Forever stamps.”
Collector-submitted envelopes for first-day covers will receive a black postmark showing Trebek’s name in black outlined capital letters.
Full color pictorial first-day cancels found on covers marketed by the Postal Service and others prepared by some cachetmakers will illustrate Trebek’s name in capital letters in two colors, blue with a yellow shadow. The background has the show name Jeopardy! repeated twice in gray.
All orders for Alex Trebek first-day cancels must be postmarked by Nov. 22.
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